People are trying cachy as their first Linux distro.
To anyone reading and thinking of switching:
DO NOT use CachyOS as your first distro. You will not like the experience, it was not made with total newbies in mind. It is Arch with a few bells and whistles, and you are not prepared to properly handle Arch, yet. You will get there later, if you want to.
Ironically, I think Arch might be a better first time distro than CachyOS, because if you’re willing to go through the manual installation process and learn from all the fuckups you’ll make, you can come out of it with the knowledge necessary to manage your install. Though of course I would only recommend it with the warning that your system will be mostly broken for a while and you’d be constantly figuring out and fixing things, so not a good idea if you need your computer working.
But it does seem like a nice distro for if you already know what you’re doing and want to save time getting things set up (and maybe those performance improvements are significant enough, I’ve seen people give big figures)
Agreed! If you want to get into the backbone of Linux systems from the get-go and have some level of technical expertise, Arch is a brilliant learning experience.
And if you already have the experience with Arch and just want to make your life easier, CachyOS or EndeavourOS are good options.
Rolling release typically delivers the latest and greatest of Linux, which is kinda cool. It also removes all the headache of upgrading to a newer version and the possible issues stemming from that. You get to see the gradual evolution of your system, one feature at a time, and you don’t have to wait a month after a new version is released, just because some program you need is not properly ported yet.
On the other end, any update of the rolling release system can end up being somewhat breaking, so if you prefer setting aside time for managing your system instead of having a nasty surprise at the worst possible moment and at the same time want to have your system secure and updated at all times, classic model will be superior.
In both cases, properly set snapshots save a lot of trouble.
Debian is probably a poor fit for a gaming-oriented distro, since gaming is constantly evolving in terms of hardware and software features.
Even if you put as much as possible into a container or a Flatpak, your drivers will be old, which is critical even for older hardware, particularly in new games.
If you want stability AND modern gaming, maybe go for something like Bazzite? The system is very stable thanks to immutability and atomic updates, and at the same time you have all the modern gaming stack.
I’m not a fan of immutable distros, and always having the latest drivers has never been an issue for me. Having a system that’s less likely to break after an update is a bit more critical when it comes to actually being able to spend time playing games.
But what I meant is that Debian has tools I can use to recompile my packages. I’m not aware of any reasons why I wouldn’t be able to rebuild my system to replicate the unique features of CachyOS myself if I wanted to put in the work. And at that point I could always start with Sid as a base as well, which would be just as bleeding edge as any rolling release distro.
Looked into Siduction - seems to be a small project operating over Debian Sid, which I call a recipe for disaster when actually deployed as a home system. Sid is not meant to be stable, and you’re unlikely to get much support. And a small community project is unlikely to patch everything faster than Debian itself.
Debian Sid should not be seen the same way as Arch or other rolling release distros - the former is supposed to be broken, a bug here and there is a non-issue at this point of Debian development lifecycle. Arch and others are expected to actually be used as end products, so critical bugs are rare.
I had some counters in mind to the things you’re saying here. But I don’t feel like bothering. So I will just say the big problem with everything you’re saying, is that you’re arguing against using Debian.
Meanwhile just last night Elden Ring on my Trixie desktop went brrrr.
In no way I do! I used Debian on my machines, and it’s a brilliant distro for its purpose. Which, to my mind, modern gaming is just not.
Debian will absolutely run games, though. The problem is, will it work well with newer titles, released after the respective Debian release? Elden Ring is 4 years old, after all. It was released in the Debian 11 era, and we’re on 13 now.
In any case, if you mostly play slightly dated games and don’t mind small performance drops due to older drivers, why not just stay on Debian Stable, like you do now? It will serve you just fine, and your system will be rock solid, unlike Sid. The performance gains from CachyOS kernel optimizations are normally not that big, and comparable to what you lose by not having the newest drivers. Just play on Trixie if it fits you :)
To anyone reading and thinking of switching:
DO NOT use CachyOS as your first distro. You will not like the experience, it was not made with total newbies in mind. It is Arch with a few bells and whistles, and you are not prepared to properly handle Arch, yet. You will get there later, if you want to.
Ironically, I think Arch might be a better first time distro than CachyOS, because if you’re willing to go through the manual installation process and learn from all the fuckups you’ll make, you can come out of it with the knowledge necessary to manage your install. Though of course I would only recommend it with the warning that your system will be mostly broken for a while and you’d be constantly figuring out and fixing things, so not a good idea if you need your computer working.
But it does seem like a nice distro for if you already know what you’re doing and want to save time getting things set up (and maybe those performance improvements are significant enough, I’ve seen people give big figures)
Agreed! If you want to get into the backbone of Linux systems from the get-go and have some level of technical expertise, Arch is a brilliant learning experience.
And if you already have the experience with Arch and just want to make your life easier, CachyOS or EndeavourOS are good options.
If I am used to Ubuntu, would I ever want to be on a rolling release?
Depends on your personal preferences!
Rolling release typically delivers the latest and greatest of Linux, which is kinda cool. It also removes all the headache of upgrading to a newer version and the possible issues stemming from that. You get to see the gradual evolution of your system, one feature at a time, and you don’t have to wait a month after a new version is released, just because some program you need is not properly ported yet.
On the other end, any update of the rolling release system can end up being somewhat breaking, so if you prefer setting aside time for managing your system instead of having a nasty surprise at the worst possible moment and at the same time want to have your system secure and updated at all times, classic model will be superior.
In both cases, properly set snapshots save a lot of trouble.
I wish there were Debian with Cachy-gaming features. Wonder if I could just do that myself? 🤔
Debian is probably a poor fit for a gaming-oriented distro, since gaming is constantly evolving in terms of hardware and software features.
Even if you put as much as possible into a container or a Flatpak, your drivers will be old, which is critical even for older hardware, particularly in new games.
If you want stability AND modern gaming, maybe go for something like Bazzite? The system is very stable thanks to immutability and atomic updates, and at the same time you have all the modern gaming stack.
I’m not a fan of immutable distros, and always having the latest drivers has never been an issue for me. Having a system that’s less likely to break after an update is a bit more critical when it comes to actually being able to spend time playing games.
But what I meant is that Debian has tools I can use to recompile my packages. I’m not aware of any reasons why I wouldn’t be able to rebuild my system to replicate the unique features of CachyOS myself if I wanted to put in the work. And at that point I could always start with Sid as a base as well, which would be just as bleeding edge as any rolling release distro.
Or, there is always Siduction as well.
Looked into Siduction - seems to be a small project operating over Debian Sid, which I call a recipe for disaster when actually deployed as a home system. Sid is not meant to be stable, and you’re unlikely to get much support. And a small community project is unlikely to patch everything faster than Debian itself.
Debian Sid should not be seen the same way as Arch or other rolling release distros - the former is supposed to be broken, a bug here and there is a non-issue at this point of Debian development lifecycle. Arch and others are expected to actually be used as end products, so critical bugs are rare.
I had some counters in mind to the things you’re saying here. But I don’t feel like bothering. So I will just say the big problem with everything you’re saying, is that you’re arguing against using Debian.
Meanwhile just last night Elden Ring on my Trixie desktop went brrrr.
In no way I do! I used Debian on my machines, and it’s a brilliant distro for its purpose. Which, to my mind, modern gaming is just not.
Debian will absolutely run games, though. The problem is, will it work well with newer titles, released after the respective Debian release? Elden Ring is 4 years old, after all. It was released in the Debian 11 era, and we’re on 13 now.
In any case, if you mostly play slightly dated games and don’t mind small performance drops due to older drivers, why not just stay on Debian Stable, like you do now? It will serve you just fine, and your system will be rock solid, unlike Sid. The performance gains from CachyOS kernel optimizations are normally not that big, and comparable to what you lose by not having the newest drivers. Just play on Trixie if it fits you :)